


51 Days

by HaraHiro



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Drama, F/M, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-17
Updated: 2017-06-02
Packaged: 2018-11-01 20:32:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10929528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HaraHiro/pseuds/HaraHiro
Summary: Roxas Strife is a high school student in Twilight High. Within its halls, a rumor has spread: If you stand on top of the town's clocktower and watch the sun set for 51 days, your feelings of love for someone will definitely be returned. Driven by desperation, he dragged his childhood friend, Sora Fair, to the top of the clocktower to follow the rumor. It just so happened that Sora was the one he wanted to tell his feelings to, and it also just happened that Sora seemed to be in love Kairi Hikari, the girl his crush seemed to know since forever. Standing on top of the clocktower, all Roxas wanted was to let his feelings soar and reach that sky...





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [オサナナブルー](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/290871) by Last Note ft. GUMI. 



> Hello. This is my first story ever to upload on to this site (although I did post this to other sites for back-up copies). So, uh, yeah. Pretty nervous here, but I want to start to be able to put some of my works out there. So I decided to take the chance and start getting used to stuff like this, so I can put myself out in the world much easier. So, uh, wouldn't wanna keep you reading my ramblings--Please do enjoy reading!

_Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick Tock._ The monotonous and seemingly endless ticking of a clock was the only sound heard as time marched on into the night. On a bed, two heads of spiky blonde hair poked out, the aquamarine sheets rising and falling out of sync as the two sleeping boys slept. Suddenly, one of the two shot up, wide awake and panting heavily. Pushing away the thick sheets, his face was flushed and dripping with sweat, he clutched at his plain blue pajama shirt as his azure orbs looked around nervously, as if he thought he was about to fall down a cliff, looking for something to steady himself with. Realizing he was, indeed, safe on top of his bed, he sighed and rubbed his eyes of sleep. He looked to the top of the bedside drawer which had his and his brother’s phones, a digital alarm clock which shone through the dark room with a green light to display the time, a lampshade with star patterns, and a framed picture of himself, his brother, and their childhood friend. As soon as his vision adjusted to his surroundings, he looked at the clock which displayed 3:45 am. _‘Way too early,’_ he thought grimly. _‘It’s the same dream again…”_

He was broken out of his musings by a stirring from the other person who shared the bed with him. Slowly, the other boy spoke, tired from being disturbed from slumber. “Roxas?” the boy called out groggily, starting to sit up as he, too, rubbed his eyes. Said boy looked at the other apologetically before smiling the same uncomfortable smile he always showed the other when he had nightmares and whispering, “It’s alright, Ven. It’s nothing, really.” He then insisted the other go back to sleep.

Ven looked over to the same clock. He raised an eyebrow at Roxas. “’Nothing’ wouldn’t wake you up at 3 in the morning all panicked and bothered,” he retorted, scratching at the skin of his lower back through his plain green pajama shirt. His eyes were wide awake now and were focused heavily on Roxas, as if trying to force the answer from him. “We’re twin brothers, Rox, you don’t have to hide anything from me. You’ve been waking up in the middle of night like this for a few days now. Just what’s been bothering you lately?”

Roxas looked away, his face staying red but said nothing else. He couldn't bring himself to say anything to Ven, even if he is his twin brother. It’s not that he couldn’t trust him, he’s just too embarrassed to say what was on his mind. Ven pouted at his brother’s silence, eyes adjusted enough to the dark to notice his twin was red in the face. Ven crosses his arms at this as he was left by his brother to figure out what his problem was. Roxas was the younger between the two of them, but he was seemingly the more mature one and only ever got embarrassed if it has something to do with…

Putting two and two together, he leaned over a bit closer to Roxas and whispered, “This is about Sora, isn’t it?”

His eyes widened, shoulders stiffened and head turned quickly and suddenly toward his elder brother, Roxas tried to put together the words he needed to say to deny what Ven had just said, but the only things he spewed from his mouth were incoherent ramblings and a few drops of spit. Realizing he just dug himself an even deeper grave, he just opted to say, “H-how did you…?”

Heaving a sigh and closing his eyes, Ven rubbed his left cheek from a bit of his brother’s saliva before saying, “Rox, I already know you like him. You’ve come out already, haven’t you? Mom and dad didn’t seem to mind, and neither did Cloud. Why are you so embarrassed to admit you were dreaming about your crush?” Ven asked. Roxas then heaved a sigh of his own, bowing his head and covering his face with both hands from the embarrassment of being called out by his own twin brother and the fact that he just accidentally spit on him.

An awkward silence wraps itself around the two, before Ven shook his head, stretched his arms out and said, “Well, if you don’t wanna talk about it, then I understand.” Roxas looked up at him in slight confusion. Ven ruffled his hair and smiled at his younger brother. Roxas averted his eyes from Ven’s sight and pouted a bit at getting his hair tousled as the older crawled out of their shared bed. Breathing out a heavy puff of air, Ven turned to the other blonde. “I’m gonna go downstairs to get some water. Want some, too?”

Roxas finally smiled up at his brother before shaking his head and answering, “Nah, I’ll go down and get a glass myself. I’ll catch up with you.” Ven nods and heads out the door. When he was sure that his brother was no longer within earshot, he picked up the framed photo him, Ven, and their shared childhood friend, Sora. Raising his other hand to caress the slightly tan face and spiky chestnut locks of Sora in the picture, he closed his eyes as he let the memories flow through him.

 _‘We were always together weren’t we?’_  he thought to himself. _‘We promised we’d be friends forever.’_

Taking his fingers away from his crush’s photographed face, he set the picture down and headed for the door to grab a glass of water with his twin. Just before he got out and closed the door, he looked over his shoulder and at the picture standing near the bright green glow of the clock. He let another deep, longing sigh from his mouth before muttering to no one in particular, “Friends, huh?”

The mutter was not lost, however. From the room across the twins’, he had heard the words. His usually stoic eyes narrowed ever so slightly into slits, worry starting to slowly creep up on him for a second. He pushed the thought away. He knew that whatever it was, Roxas was probably strong enough as he was now. Opening the door, he soon started to follow his younger brothers down the stairs.

Roxas arrived downstairs to see his twin sitting on a chair in their dining room, a notebook spread on the table with his back to him. He was drumming a pen in on hand and resting his chin on the other, eyes trained on the open notebook in front of him, not noticing the other blonde approach him from behind. The younger of the two gently pat the other on the back once, and the older immediately jumped in surprise, whipping his head back and abruptly closing his notebook to see his twin snicker at his reaction. Pouting just a little bit, he shot a half-hearted glare at him. “The heck was that for, Rox?” he said, a tad bit annoyed at his brother for doing that. Said brother merely ignored him as he noticed the pitcher of orange juice and the half-empty glass of the said drink in front of Ven. “I thought you said you were gonna get water.” He only got a grunt and a shrug from the blonde, however, those azure eyes once again going back to burn holes into that now re-opened notebook. “What’s with that notebook?” Roxas asked, just a bit curious.

“Oh, this,” Ven started, “It’s just some assignment due today for Mr. Xehanort’s class. I forgot to do it last night, see.” He looked up at the other with a sheepish smile.” Roxas got out his own glass and filled it with juice. “What’s it about?” The younger asked, sparing a glance at the upside-down words written on the pages. “Just have to practice writing short stories for English class,” was his response. “What’s kind of story is it?” a voice deeper than that of Roxas’ suddenly spoke, and another blue-eyed, spiky-blonde haired male then walked into the room. “Cloud?” Ven started, “What are you doing up so early?” finished the younger. His blue eyes reflected those of his twin brothers’. His golden locks were spiked without a trace of bed hair, implying that he had fixed his hair before coming down. He tugged on the sleeves of his plain black jacket to straighten himself up, then brushed down his black jeans with both hands. “I’m just gonna go out,” he answered plainly. “Besides, I could ask you two the same thing,” he said, casually walking over, he stopped right behind Ven and lightly skimmed through what Ven had written on the pages of his notebook. Ven’s face flushed and he quickly shut his notebook. Roxas chuckled lightly at that, always getting a kick out of seeing his older twin being flustered over something like this. “What did you write about that’s making you so flustered?”

“Nothing yet, really,” he said, looking down at the closed notebook and pouting. “I keep trying to think of a plot and all, but I’m just ending up writing down the first things that come into my head.”

“So the first thing you think of for your story is a couple dwarves chasing a boy out of a mine for trying to steal their jewels?” questioned the eldest, seemingly trying to keep that neutral face he always had on. Ven’s face heated up and unconsciously pushed the notebook slightly away across the table, the look on his face became downcast. “Sorry I’m such a no-good writer,” he grumbled.

“Sorry, that’s not what I meant to say,” Cloud apologized and pat his younger brother on the back, “You’ll be able to get there, I’m sure of it,” he added, trying to cheer him on. Roxas agreed with the oldest blonde in the room. “You just need a little inspiration is all,” the youngest added with as bright of a smile as could. “Yeah, you’re probably right,” Ven said, looking down at the notebook before deciding to put it away for now. He stretched his arms out, with grunting as he did so and turned to his brothers. “Yeah. Inspiration. Right,” he said as if he was trying to convince himself to just drop it for now. Now, with a brighter smile and cheerier voice he exclaimed, “I got dibs on the TV!” and ran to the living room the three brothers shared. “Ah, no fair! You never want to watch what I want to watch!” Roxas shouted as he chased after his twin.

“That’s ‘cuz I’m not into horror, Roxy!” Ven shouted back at him, grabbing the remote and settling himself down on the couch in front of the television, his twin following suit, landing on top of the older, and attempting to wrestle the remote out of his grip. “C’mon, Ven! It’s like, 4 am! It’s the perfect time to watch some good horror!” The younger said, still trying to pry the remote out of his twin’s hands until a hand ruffled the hair of both twins and they both jumped back shot glares and nearly screamed at their eldest brother, “Don’t touch my hair,” at the exact same time. Cloud merely chuckled at this, before he grabbed his helmet from a table to the side of the living room. “I’m gonna head out now. Don’t skip school. Mom and dad won’t be back till tonight so don’t destroy the house, alright?”

“’Kaaaaay,” came the bored sounding reply from both younger blondes, now over their wrestling fight, settling for some cartoon that caught the older one’s eyes. With that, the eldest let himself out, got on his motorcycle and drove away.

After a few hours of mindless television, Roxas finally got up and started walking to the bathroom after telling his twin that he would take a shower for school today. Ven followed soon after Roxas was finished.

Another hour passes and Roxas and Ven now both stood in front of a mirror to the side of the room that they shared, fixing their hair to make sure their spikes look alright before patting down their cream-colored sleeveless cardigan on top of a short sleeved plain white button up polo shirt, then proceeding to tighten their blood-red necktie around their necks and fastened black leather belts around the waist of their plain black pants. Deciding that their clothes look satisfactory, they finally headed out of their room and proceeded down the stairs where both their book bags were sitting on the coffee table between the couch and the television. Roxas picked up his bookbag and watched as his twin double-checked the things he needed for school. Ven sighed a bit, looking troubled by something. Roxas walked over to see that his twin was holding that notebook in one hand and was staring at it tiredly. “Will you be able to finish that assignment before Mr. Xehanort’s class today?” Roxas asked, concern laced into his voice as he looked his twin in the eye. “Probably not,” came Ven’s downcast reply. There was a quiet pause for a moment before the older put the notebook away and smiled at the younger, not wanting an awkward air to hang over them. “It’s alright,” he said, his smile not wavering, “Mr. Xehanort said the deadline won’t be till two weeks from now.”

The two put on their matching white rubber shoes they use outdoors and have exited their home, locking the door as Roxas asked his twin, “Well then, why were you so bent on finishing this today?” Ven shrugged. “Well, I kinda suck at English compared to our other classes, so I asked Mr. Xehanort for additional work. He agreed and gave me this assignment. I just wanted to finish my work early and beg Mr. Xehanort for a higher grade,” he said, holding the back of his neck with both hands, his book bag hung loosely on his shoulder as he walked side by side with his twin. As the two walked, they see the school building come into view. Their house was not even a 15-minute walk to their high school. “Wow,” Roxas began, “Way to be a teacher’s pet, Ven,” he deadpanned, acting unamused by his brother. “Pot calling the kettle black, Roxy,” Ven teased back, sneering at his twin. “You suck up to Mr. Vexen almost all the time, don’t you?” Roxas chuckled at that. “Only because I can’t really understand the things he lectures us about.”

They walked into campus and saw that a handful other students have already entered the school building. Small groups of boys and girls all chattering amongst themselves as they, too, strolled into campus. Walking into the school entrance, the twins headed to their designated shoe lockers and exchanged their outdoor shoes for their indoor ones. They then started to walk to their classroom. Unsurprisingly enough, when they got there, there were only a handful of their other classmates inside; they did arrive earlier than usual, after all. The only person present in the room that the blondes are relatively close to is a boy around their age named Zexion. His pale face buried in a thick book, as usual, those aqua blue eyes never lifting their gaze from the novel he held in his hands. Roxas remembered Sora calling him an emo once because of his long layered steel-blue bangs that cover the right side of his face, and Sora got a book thrown in his direction, only for it to be dodged and hit his tall best friend square on his face.

Just when Roxas and Ven were about to greet the quiet male they considered a friend, the door to the room opened to let in three very familiar faces. Ven had already greeted Zexion and was attempting to talk to the quiet boy, but Roxas found himself staring at the three that had just arrived.

The first to come in was a short girl with red hair that just barely reached past her shoulders. She wore the same colored cardigan for their school uniform and a plain white blouse with the sleeves rolled up to her shoulders. She held the straps of her book bag in one hand as it hung on her shoulder. Her necktie was tucked inside her cardigan, but was loosened. She wore a short skirt that barely reached her thigh, and black socks that reached above her knees. She was talking to the second person to come in, although she never once looked up from the phone she held in one hand, fingers expertly typing a text to send to her other friends while talking to the other two that she was currently with. He was a tall male with silver hair that almost reached his shoulders. Oddly enough, he was carrying two book bags, one on either shoulder. He didn’t bother wearing the cardigan, his short sleeved shirt tucked out and his necktie loosened. He wore the same black pants all of the boys at their school wore. He had a bored look on his face, a dull look from his blue-green eyes telling everyone else in the room that he’d rather be anywhere else but here. The two paused for a moment, waiting for the third one to come in the room. Then, a head of spiky chestnut hair walked in with a wide grin on his face and a mischievous glint in his bright blue eyes. Hands in his pockets, he leaned forward with teasing eyes and a cocky sneer at his silver headed friend, a silver chain tied around his neck with an image of a crown made of silver dangling in front his chest as he did so. “Aww, thanks for holding my bag for me, Riku.”

The tall young man he was referring to merely gave a seemingly annoyed grunt in reply as one of the bags he hung on one shoulder was lowered on to the shorter brunette’s grip. “Carry it for me again later, ‘kay?” the brunette said, that cocky look on his face still there. “Carry your own bag, Sora,” the red headed girl chimed in, eyes still focused on her phone. “But Kairi,” Sora tried to pleadingly say, but Riku interrupted him, “I only did it this time because you won’t stop complaining about your damn stomachache.” Sora’s eyes seemed to start to water, and he dropped his bag on the ground, face red and clutching at his stomach. “Ow,” he grunted out, eyes closed and body trembling. “You reminded me that my stomach was hurting…” Roxas would normally want to rush over and ask the brunette what’s wrong, if only he didn’t know that the brunette was somewhat of a skilled actor. Besides, his two other friends scared him a little--not that he would admit that.

“Oh, drop the act, Sora,” Kairi scolded as both she and Riku headed towards the back row where the three of them would always sit down, the tallest of the three just kept quiet as he followed her. Sora’s pained expression dropped at that, still clutching his stomach, this time with a disappointed pout on his face. “Geez, Kairi, thanks for letting me know that you won’t help me in my time of need,” he stuck out his tongue at both his friends, raising his arms to rest the back of his head on both hands as he walked over to them, sitting on top of Kairi’s table, getting a weird look from the tall silver-haired teen standing behind her. The girl who was assigned the seat didn’t seem to mind, however, as she just continued to tap away at her phone. Roxas blinked. Sora was staring at him. And he had been staring at the brunette the whole time, too. Face burning and suddenly feeling flustered, he whipped his head back and away from Sora’s nearly piercing gaze and decided to look at the front of the class where the blackboard was. That was when he noticed a discarded book bag on the floor. He remembered that Sora had dropped his bag when he was trying to fool Riku into carrying it for him again later. Almost unconsciously, he got up from his seat beside Ven and in front of Zexion and moved to the front, slowly grabbing the bag, and then meekly walking over to Sora and his friends, and handing the boy his bag, face flushed and eyes averted the entire time.

The brunette merely blinked at the blonde’s actions, taking his bag before his lips twisted into his signature grin, giving Roxas a genuine sounding “Thanks!” There was a brief pause, Kairi still on her phone but was well-aware of the situation in close proximity to herself, Riku staring at the two who were holding onto the straps of the bag, Sora tilting his head a bit, looking at his childhood friend curiously, and Roxas standing there, red-faced, eyes refusing to meet with Sora’s. The brunette was first to break the awkward atmosphere. “Uh, you can let go now, Roxy,” he said with a bit of a smile. Roxas jumped a bit upon hearing his voice and silently let go before quickly running back to his seat, nearly tripping on his own feet halfway, and sunk into his chair. Ven had noticed this, and was immediately beside his brother, patting his slumped back soothingly in an attempt to bring his twin out of the feeling of embarrassment. Even Zexion looked up from his book to spare the blonde a glance of slight worry.

The flustered blonde was so tense that he’d avoided eye contact with pretty much everyone in the room. He didn’t notice how the brunette he’d wanted to talk to after so long was reaching out to him, wanting to talk to him, but decided not to disturb him because he’d seemed too upset. Riku stared at his best friend, before directing his gaze toward the girl who, for a brief moment, stopped tapping her fingers on her phone. Using only her eyes, she looked at Roxas with his head down on his desk trying to will his embarrassment away; then Sora, who was staring Roxas down with a serious face that was unlike his usual cheerful self; then Riku, who was now staring blankly back at her. Looking back at her phone, and quickly scanning the new contents of her inbox that had arrived over the time she spent scanning her surroundings, she came upon a text that was interesting for her, and, for the first time in a long time, she formulated her own plan—one that Sora was not aware of. One glance toward Riku, and he knew she wanted him to play along with what she’s about to say.

“Say, Sora,” she began, returning her gaze to her phone, “Have you ever heard of _that_ rumor?” Sora broke out of his trance of staring at Roxas to direct his attention to the redhead. “What rumor?” Kairi merely tapped away at her phone, replying to her texts as she talked to her friends, “You know, about the clock tower in the middle of Twilight Town.”

Sora blinked, “Oh, that? How does that go again?” he crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow, looking like he was trying to think. “If you stand at the top of the tower and watch the sunset for 51 consecutive days while wishing for your love, then your feelings will definitely be returned,” Riku said leaning back, away from the other to, making sure his voice was loud enough to heard by the people who he wanted to hear. “Yeah, that,” Kairi agreed, the index finger of her free hand tapping her desk rhythmically, “See, Selphie texted me saying she tried to do this, and it actually worked for her.”

“What? That rumor is just superstition,” Sora pointed out. “Then how do you explain what Selphie just told me?” Kairi shot back, not looking at anyone or anything but her phone. “She’s with Tidus now, see,” she said, looking up at Sora before nearly shoving her phone’s screen in front of the brunette’s face. Sora squinted a bit; the phone’s brightness was cranked up to its maximum level, and it hurt his eyes. But in the moment it took to adjust to the bright screen, he saw a picture that Selphie had sent Kairi and it showed her holding hands with the boy in question. They did, in fact, look happy together. Just before the brunette expressed his disbelief over the rumor, he noticed that Roxas had raised his head, and was looking at his redheaded friend with an emotion that Sora was not sure how to describe. He looked away from his childhood friend at that, and just as he did, the teacher had arrived a good fifteen minutes early, making all students present in the room scurry about, trying to seat themselves as the teacher took attendance and started to discuss the lesson for the day.

* * *

Roxas sat on his usual spot in the school cafeteria with his brother and their friends from class. Zexion went off to return the two other books he had finished reading to the school library. Ven was able to make friends with a couple of their upperclassmen—something Roxas was secretly a little bit jealous of but would never admit—while he made a couple friends from the same year, but in different classes. He silently brooded, playing with the lunch his twin brother had made while he was in the shower earlier. _‘Really, happy couples should just fall off a cliff and die,’_ he thought, trying his hardest not to stare daggers at his friends who seemed to be enjoying themselves despite the brooding emo impulses Roxas might have had.

“Say ‘aah’,” came the sing-song voice of the girl he considered his best girl-friend by the name of Olette. The young brunette woman was trying to feed her boyfriend, Hayner, who sported the same blush as his girlfriend. Ven’s upperclassman friends, Terra and Aqua, were sitting next to each other, and even though they were much, _much_ , subtler about it, the fact still remains that the two were also happily dating. The brooding blonde sat next to the two other single guys in their group—his other friend besides Hayner and Olette, Pence; and his twin brother, Ven. The other two didn’t seem to be as bitter as Roxas was right now. In fact, those two didn’t seem to care about romance at all. How he envied that. At this moment, he remembered what his crush’s redheaded friend had said earlier. “I wonder if all that’s true,” he mumbled to himself, eyes looking to the side and away from all his companions at the moment. _‘If it was,’_ his eyes narrowed into seemingly angry slits, _‘Why was Kairi asking Sora about that? Aren’t they dating already?’_

“What did you say, Rox?” Ven had asked, being the only one close enough to his to actually _hear_ what Roxas had said. Now suddenly, all eyes were on him. He shifted a little bit under their gaze, not really used to having any sort of spotlight on him—he considered himself a nobody at their school, after all. “Oh, uh, n-nothing,” he was able to stutter out, face turning pink, earning him a look of slight confusion from their friends and a pout from his twin. “Was it about this morning?” Roxas crossed his arms. His twin may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but he sure is perceptive when it came to his brother. “What about this morning?” Olette chimed in, wanting in on the conversation. “If it’s bothering you,” spoke the gentle blue-haired Aqua, “then maybe we can help,” she said with a hand placed on her chest.

Roxas slowly looked over at his friends, who all looked a bit concerned for him. So he spoke, “Well, you know that rumor? About the clock tower at the center of town?” he began, Olette’s olive eyes suddenly getting noticeably excited “Oh, oh, I know about that! The one where if you watch the sunset on top of the tower for 51 days straight, then your love will be returned or something like that?”

“Yeah, that one,” Roxas confirmed. “This morning, a girl from our class, Kairi, asked Sora about it and I thought it was a bit weird because she was talking like she wanted to try that rumor with him, but they were already dating,” he explained, as the six other people listened, the girls and his brother a bit more attentive than the other guys were. “What,” Olette nearly screamed out, startling the people on the table, as well as a couple other people who were in close proximity. Apologizing quickly to the strangers she disturbed with a slight blush of embarrassment on her face, she turned to Roxas and used a quieter tone of voice, “What made you think that those two were _dating?_ ” She said, almost making sound like Roxas was insane for saying that. “I… heard rumors,” he said, looking straight at his friend. “What, am I wrong?” he asked, an eyebrow raised. “Well,” she began, taking out her phone and scrolling into her inbox, “I asked Kairi herself about that,” she showed the screen to her blonde friend, “and this is what her reply said,” Roxas squinted his eyes at the message.

_From: Kairi Hikari_

_Subject: Rumor about you?_

_wat r u talking about?_

_kai and i aren’t like that_

_im into guys anyway_

_this is sora by the way_

Roxas widened his eyes as he read the text. “See?” Olette said with a smile, “They couldn’t be dating if Sora’s into other guys!” she exclaimed a bit to cheerfully for the other guys in the table. Ven nearly choked on his drink of orange juice, “He’s what?” he asked, rubbing his chin of the orange liquid that had spilled from his lips. “I know,” Hayner said, arms crossed and eyes closed, his eyebrows knitted together as if thinking about something unfathomable. “I never really noticed before,” Pence said, sipping a little bit of his own drink of chocolate milk. “Well, there’s nothing wrong about that,” Terra said, helping Aqua who was starting to clean up after themselves. “As long as he’s not hurting anyone in anyway, right?” he said, turning to his girlfriend, who nodded at his words. Roxas didn’t hear any of them. Right now, he was having a mini-panic attack. He felt a rush of hope that had long since have been pulled from his chest. _‘I might actually stand a chance?’_ he thought to himself, sounding more like a question than anything else, as he felt a lump he had to swallow in his throat. _‘But… how do I know that he really was the one talking in the message?’_

He was brought out of his thoughts by the school bell, signaling that it was time to return to class. The six teens finished cleaning up after themselves and headed back to their classes.

* * *

Roxas could not focus on what the bald headed, dark-skinned, amber-eyed, aging man in front of him was talking about. He was looking in front of him, and he could hear what their elderly-looking teacher was saying, but he just couldn’t process the words enough to make sound the slightest bit coherent in his head. All he could think about was how Sora, the boy he had longed after for years, could actually be gay as well. He had a chance. He kept repeating that to himself the duration of the lecture. Then he remembered that rumor. He knew that there really is just a very minuscule chance of that being true, but… What if it was? It wouldn’t hurt to try, right?

The lecture finally finished as the final bell rung before Roxas had the chance to even begin to understand what Mr. Xehanort had been talking about in front. The students started to pour out of the room, some staying behind to perform their cleaning duties. Roxas, Ven and Sora were left behind, tasked to arrange the tables and chairs and make sure that no pieces of trash were littered along the floors. As the three finished, Ven lifted the trash can with his bag hanging loosely on one shoulder and told the other two that they can go ahead because Mr. Xehanort apparently wanted to talk to him for a bit about his assignment. The two who were left then started to gather their things in an awkward silence, before the blonde, without giving it much thought suddenly spoke up to call the other’s attention. “Hey Sora, about that rumor--” he caught himself. What was he thinking, suddenly mentioning something like that? “You mean about the clock tower?” Sora questioned, holding his bag open, looking like he was double checking to see if he had all his things. “Y-yeah,” came Roxas’ stuttered reply. “I was wondering if you’d want to come with me to see if it’s real, y’know?” he said, not making eye contact with the brunette. Sora blinked at that, not really knowing how to respond. “That stuff is never gonna be real, Roxy; it’s just superstition,” Sora pointed out, trying to put on that cheerful tone and smile he always showed everyone. “Y-yeah, but Kairi said that Selphie and Tidus are together because of the rumor right?” Roxas pointed out. “And besides,” he continued face getting even more flushed than they already were. “I… have this person I like, and I want someone to be with me, y’know.”

Upon hearing that, Sora stared at Roxas for what seemed like an eternity. His face was wiped of any false smiles and cheer that he was trying to put on. It almost seemed that he was _glaring_ at Roxas before he looked to the side and mumbled out his approval at Roxas’ plea. The blonde’s eyes lightened up as he grabbed his bag and walked to the door with the brunette.

As they reached the school gates, Roxas noticed that Sora’s friends had been waiting for them. Ven wasn’t there, however. _‘Did he already go home?’_ Roxas questioned himself as Sora went over to his friends to tell them about his plans with Roxas. The blonde noticed that Kairi actually looked up from her phone and gave Sora a look, making the brunette flinch a little and nodded. Roxas subtly looked away from that, raising an eyebrow. Are they really not together?

As soon as Sora said his goodbyes to his friends for the day, the two childhood friends went on their way toward the clock tower in the middle of the small town. As they walked, the tower soon showed itself in the distance. That was when it hit Roxas. This was real. He was actually going on top of that tower to watch the sunset with _the_ Sora Fair, one of the most popular kids in their school. His childhood friend and his long-time crush.

_No going back now._


	2. Resolve

Roxas stared at the general direction of the setting sun in the sky. His head was barely registering what he was doing on top of this tower, before he finally remembered that he was, in fact, not alone here. Standing behind him with an eyebrow raised in a less than comfortable scowl, was the childhood friend he had feelings for for a long time now. Roxas knew somewhere in the back of his mind, Roxas knew Sora did not believe in this so-called superstition. After all, what is watching the sunset do to make someone fall in love with you? Roxas knew he was right.

As soon as the sun had finally set, and night had begun to envelope the town, Sora finally spoke up, _“You happy now, Roxy?”_ he said with a half-mocking tone. Roxas decided to ignore the incredulous tone of his brunette friend’s comment, and instead smiled at him for what felt like the first time in forever. “Yeah,” the blonde said as he looked the brunette in the eye. “It’s been 51 days, and I think I should tell the person I like how I feel,” he said, getting a feeling of dread. Why does this seem… familiar?

Sora’s scowled, and just as the blonde was about to speak up again, he was pushed off the tower. He was falling, falling deeper, and yet he didn’t seem to fall into the ground. All he could feel was falling down tower because his love pushed him off.

* * *

 

Now all of a sudden, Roxas’ eyes opened wide, and slowly, he sat up to take in the familiar surroundings he and his twin had shared nearly all their lives. He looked around slowly, trying to wrap his mind around his current situation. He looked to the side and saw his twin sleeping beside him, an open notebook set face down on his chest and a pen inserted between the open part of the notebook as he slept peacefully beside his brother.

He began to calm down as he realized that what had happened was just a dream; the same dream that had haunted him for as long as he had known the rumor of the clock tower. Yesterday’s events before classes and during lunch seemed to only make the dream more vivid.

When the two teenagers reached the top of the clock tower, Roxas was not really sure what he needed to do. Sora hung around behind him as he tried to stare at the sun, but just decided to stare at the orange hue of the sky instead when he remembered that staring directly at the sun will blind you. Blinking rapidly to try to get the floating black spots from his vision when he tried to stare at the giant bright ball of light in the sky, he merely stood there, not really knowing what else there was to do.

As the sky faded into the night, the two childhood friends decided to descend from the tower and go home. As they traversed through the streets of Twilight Town, Sora suddenly spoke up, “So Roxy.” Said blonde looked at his object of affections and saw that he was not looking at him as he spoke and was merely looking down at the road as they both walked. His facial expression a bit too serious for the usual cheery brunette everyone else at school knew. “What is it, Sor?” he responded, managing not to stutter out the words as he spoke to his crush.

Sora turned narrowed blue eyes to the blonde walking beside him. “You gonna tell me who you’re doing all this for?” he asked, his tone sounding a bit teasing. Roxas looked away, trying his best not to color his face pink. “T-that’s a secret,” he said as he crossed his arms, trying to distract himself with a stray cat he found as they passed an intersection in the road. There was a black-haired male in front of the cat. He seemed to be feeding the stray, before piercing amber eyes looked—no, _glared_ at the direction where the two childhood friends were walking. Roxas snapped his head away, and realized he suddenly bumped into Sora as he tripped over his own feet. The blonde breathed a sigh of relief as he realized the brunette had been strong enough not to let the both of them fall down to the ground. “Whoa, careful there, Roxy,” Sora said looking down at his friend while gripping both of his shoulders with his hands. There was a slight pause before Roxas suddenly jumped as he realized he was—in a way—being held by his crush. He recoiled back, almost tripping himself again, before standing up straight and looking so obviously tense. Sora raised an eyebrow at his actions and crossed his arms. The blonde just stood there, avoiding eye contact with the brunette.

Sora decided to let it slide for now, and just rolled his eyes at the blonde before continuing on their way in a slightly uncomfortable silence. The distance between the two as they walked didn’t help any. When the two had reached the two intersection where they parted ways for the night, they just exchanged goodbyes before separating. When Roxas arrived home, he was still alone. Neither Ven nor Cloud had come home yet, and there were no signs of their parents returning and so he decided to skip dinner altogether and just go straight to sleep.

Now he was wide awake and was feeling all the embarrassment he felt as he probably looked like an airheaded klutz around the boy he has feelings for. Shaking his head, he stood up carefully as to not wake up his twin. He exited their room and went down the second floor hall to where the bathroom was. Not bothering to close the door behind him, he opened the faucet to the sink, letting the water run down to wet his hands. Splashing some of the cold water over his face, he got rid of the sleep in his eyes and managed to calm himself down.

“You’re up early again,” came the familiar voice of Cloud. “Morning, Cloud,” Roxas greeted, and the older greeted back. “You’re not going out today?” Roxas questioned as he exited the bathroom and went down the stairs with his brother. Sitting down a chair in the dining room and watching as Cloud got a few things from the cupboards as he answered the younger’s question, “Not until later. You want some coffee?” Roxas agreed to his offer, and Cloud got out the mug that belonged to their youngest. As the older blonde prepared the cups of coffee for the both of them, Roxas suddenly spoke without speaking, “Say Cloud,” he started looking straight down at the empty table before him. “Do you believe in…” there was a slight pause of hesitation before he continued, “…rumors and superstitions?” Cloud blinked at his younger brother’s words, finishing the preparation of the coffee and setting down the mugs in front of them as he sat down across from where the younger was. He took a small sip of the bitter black coffee before answering. “That depends on the rumor, really,” he said, looking at Roxas. Said boy only raised a brow at his brother’s response. “Whether the source is credible or not, or if there have been any cases that proved that the rumor is true,” the older elaborated as both took gradual sips of their coffee.

There was a long pause between them, before Roxas broke the silence. “Do you know about the rumor at my school, then?” Roxas figured that since Cloud was an alumnus at their school, he would know a thing or two about the things that go down its halls. Although Cloud had never been much of a conversationalist, he was a good observer. “Back when I was still in High School,” he began, “There were loads of rumors. Ghosts around campus, bathroom suicides, monsters in the dark, even teachers harassing students,” he said, closing his eyes as he took a sip of the coffee as if he was reminiscing his time back in high school. “Which one are you talking about, exactly?”

“The one about the clock tower in town,” the younger pointed out, “how your love will return your feelings if you watch the sun set on top of the tower for 51 days.” Cloud set his mug down on the table, resting his chin on one hand as he closed his eyes. “Yeah, I know about that rumor,” he said with the faintest hint of a chuckle. Roxas didn’t notice that, however, and Cloud continued to speak. “I personally don’t—or at least— _didn’t_ believe in it,” Roxas blinked at his older brother’s words. He was speaking with a such a gentle tone, as if talking about that rumor was like talking about some fond memory. Could he have tried to see if that rumor was true before?

“This crazy friend of mine,” he began, that soft look still in his eyes, “He believed in that rumor and would always drag me up that tower with him. And, well, he actually did get what he wanted after 51 days.” The younger blonde stayed silent, taking in what his older brother had said. “So what was that about?” Cloud asked, now looking with a trace of curiosity at his younger brother’s thoughtful appearance. “Were you thinking of trying it out for yourself?” Roxas snapped back into attention at the question that had been thrown at him. “About that,” he began, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly with one hand, “I already started.”

Cloud blinked at that. Roxas actually had someone he liked? Well, he supposed it would be normal for someone his age. “So… who—“ he began, right before he was interrupted. “I’m not telling you,” came the younger’s sudden reply nearly choking as he finished off the last of the coffee in his mug. His cheeks were flushed red, his arms crossed and face tilted away from his brother. Cloud understood that Roxas didn’t want to say anymore and promptly dropped the subject. “By the way, has Ven been acting… weird yesterday?” Cloud questioned, looking straight into the smaller blonde’s eyes as he turned his attention back to his brother. “No, not really,” he said, eyebrow raised at Cloud’s question. “Did he come with you when you climbed the tower yesterday?”

Roxas’ face scrunched up even more. “No, he didn’t. I went home straight after the sun set, and no one was home yet,” the younger explained. Cloud crossed his arms across his chest and leaned back against the chair he was sitting on. “Last night,” he began, “I ran into Ven on my way home. He was acting like his usual self, but it was definitely weird that he was out after curfew. When we got home, mom told me dad was about to call the police and report him missing when they came home and found only you were home. His phone was turned off, too,” he explained. Roxas merely nodded at his older brother in agreement. Innocent, naïve Ven was never one to break rules. “I’ll ask him what he was up to,” Roxas told his brother, confident that his twin would tell him what something was bothering him.  “Thanks,” Cloud said before closing his eyes and bowing his head. “I’m sure it’s nothing; this is Ven we’re talking about here, but it can’t hurt to make sure.” Roxas nodded and noticed that it was about time to prepare for school. Excusing himself from the table as Cloud cleaned up for both of them, he walked up the stairs and made his way back to the room he shared with his twin.

Standing before the bed where his older twin laid, Roxas noted that Ven had not moved much during the time he was downstairs and talking with Cloud. The notebook was still open and laid face down on his chest, his breathing causing it to heave up and down. For a second there, Roxas was tempted to sneak a peek at what his brother had accomplished, but decided against it. So instead, he tapped him lightly on the shoulder and called out, “Veeeeen, time to wake up.” Said blonde stirred a little before he bolted awake and yelled out. Roxas jumped back, eyes widened and arms raised in surprise. “What the heck was that for, Ven?!” he exclaimed at his brother, giving him a slightly angry look before he noticed that Ven had calmed down as soon as he had his notebook in his hands. Heaving a heavy sigh and showing a small smile of relief, the older blonde flipped through the pages, only for the same smile to drop. His back slumped as he closed the notebook. Roxas was reminded of a kicked puppy; he can almost see the dog ears drooping down in sadness on top of his twin’s head. He quickly shook off that thought and sat on the bed beside his twin. “What’s wrong, Ven?” Roxas whispered to him, his tone as gentle as he could muster. Ven didn’t say anything; he only opened his notebook. Roxas peered over the older blonde’s shoulders, and saw about half of a page filled with words with a few messy erasures here and there. He didn’t read what was written, though. “I wasn’t able to write much last night,” he explained.

Roxas huffed out in confusion before speaking. “I thought the deadline for that wasn’t till two weeks from now. Why are you rushing to get it done?” Ven refused to meet his twin’s eyes as he bowed his head and muttered out, “Mr. Xehanort said he expects a lot from me, and that I might fail his class if I didn’t get a high score on it. He even told me to look around town if I can’t find inspiration for a story. I just don’t want to trouble him more than I should.” The younger then realized that that was probably what Ven had been doing last night: wandering around town looking for something to base a story on. Roxas reached out and gently rubbed the older’s shoulder with one hand. “Ven, these kinds of things take time. If really don’t want to disappoint Mr. Xehanort, then you shouldn’t rush your work,” the younger said as he continued to try to comfort his brother. “You should just take your time and let the ideas flow into you naturally.

There was silence between the two before Ven finally spoke, “Yeah, you’re right.” A wide smile starting to show itself on Ven’s face. Roxas noted that the room suddenly felt… brighter. Roxas inwardly chuckled. _‘That’s my brother for you,’_ he thought. Ven had always been there for him, and Roxas would fly to the moon and back just to keep his precious brother smiling. Ven was the first to know about Roxas’ sexuality. Ven was the first to accept him for who he is. Ven stood up to bullies who would call the younger names and try to beat him up all throughout middle school. Ven supported him through thick and thin. Heck, Ven was the only one who knew about his affection for their mutual childhood friend, and not once had he called him disgusting, not once had he told him what he felt was wrong. Ven saw the good in the world, and Roxas wanted to protect and support him just as he had done for him.

With one last pat on the back, Roxas stood up and told Ven they should probably take a shower now. Ven agreed and said they should take one together. Roxas didn’t protest; he was fine with showering with his brother. Besides, they were running a bit late already.

Spending time with his brother reminded Roxas of much of their childhood. As they showered, dressed and departed for school, they talked about a lot of things. Like how Roxas was so quiet and shy that that older kid their parents introduced them to—Axel—called him a zombie, how Ven always told people to call him by his nickname ‘Ven’ instead of his birth name ‘Ventus’ because it sounded more natural to him somehow, and how Sora had been the first one to successfully differentiate between the two identical twins, leaving a lasting impression on both of them as even their parents have told them to wear wristbands of different color—checkered patterns with white edges for Ven and black edges for Roxas—just for them to be able to properly know who they were talking to.

They finally arrived at school, and just as Ventus entered their classroom and Roxas was about to follow, a hand reached out, roughly grabbing his shoulder and pulled him out of the room. Two figures slipped into the room and the clicking sound of a door locking was heard. Looking into the glass window in the door, Kairi and Riku was blocking the door, Riku leaning against it, looking at Sora from inside with a bored expression while Kairi was peering at her phone, typing away. Just as Roxas was about to question what they were planning, he noticed their first subject teacher, the snake himself—Mr. Jafar—striding down the hall, approaching them. Just as he neared the two teenagers, students from the classroom adjacent to theirs suddenly poured out and greeted the teacher a good morning while trying to strike conversation with giant smiles plastered on their faces as they held onto their phones. From inside, Kairi closed her own device and leaned against the door with Riku, holding out five fingers to the brunette outside. Sora then grabbed the confused blonde’s hand as he pulled him into a nearby comfort room.

“What are you—“ he was interrupted immediately by the brunette’s cheerful voice. “Apparently the class next door is having independent self-study, and since Kai’s got almost everyone who has a phone’s number here in school, combined by the fact that Sir Slithers out there is probably one of the most disliked teachers here, I used all that to buy me some time to talk to you.”

Roxas opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off again, “Kai said we only have five minutes give or take before Jafar manages to slither his way into class, so I’ll make this quick. I wanted to talk to you about yesterday. Like, I’m sorry if I did something to make you uncomfortable because you were suddenly avoiding me when we were about to go home and you were dead silent and didn’t even look at me so I guess what I’m trying to say here is I’m sorry,” he was speaking so fast, not even bothering to breathe, that his face was turning red and his eyes refused to meet the nearly identical azure ones of Roxas. “Also I wanted to ask,” there was a pause as he took a sharp breath of air to continue his sentence, “if you really do believe in that crazy clock tower rumor.” His voice slowed to a normal pace, eyes now locked to the blonde’s. “When we reached the top you looked so spaced out—like you didn’t know what the hell you were supposed to do,” Sora’s phone buzzed in his hand. Opening the message, the brunette clicked his tongue before grumbling out, “Damn, he dealt with those guys from the other class so quickly.” He grabbed Roxas by the arm once again before saying, “Anyways, my point is, if you’re just gonna half-ass your way through this, then it doesn’t matter if that rumor is true or not. Unless you give your whole heart into what you want to do, nothing’s gonna happen with you. If that’s the case, it’d be for the best if you give up on that guy you’re after.”

Roxas flinched as Sora’s strong hand pulled him out of the bathroom as he was still dazed and trying to process the things the brunette had told him. The two entered the classroom to see a _very_ pissed off looking Jafar _glaring daggers_ into the souls of every student present in the room which seemed to work on everyone—except Riku who was preoccupied with writing on a piece of paper, Kairi who was probably on her phone which was hidden under her desk, thanking the people from the other class for going along with their plan, and Zexion who was reading his book hidden inside his History textbook. Right now, that chilling glare was suddenly directed towards the two who had just entered, and Roxas felt like sinking into a hole right now. The last time he was scolded by a teacher was back in fourth grade when Sora convinced him that putting glue on Zexion’s chair was a good idea. Both of them were scolded by the teacher, and then by their parents, and were forced to wash the boy’s uniform free from the sticky substance. Now they were going to be scolded again. “Just _where_ were you two?” came the deep voice of the teacher. Roxas’ voice was caught in his throat, he was unable to speak up. “Sorry for coming in late, sir, but Roxas and I went use to the bathroom,” Sora ended up saying. Roxas nodded, it wasn’t exactly a lie. Just as the teacher seemed like he was going to blow up into a giant with blood-red skin, Sora cut in once again, “Sir, with all due respect,” he said with a beaming smile, “I understand why you’re mad, but don’t you think it’s unwise to waste any more time with worthless exchanges of emotion instead of discussing the lesson?” That comment didn’t seem to calm down the enraged teacher completely, but it was enough to bring him back to his senses. Grumpily telling the two boys to sit down, they started with their lesson.

* * *

 

Zexion joined Roxas’ usual group during lunchtime, mainly because the library was set to go under renovations for the time being. He sat at the far end of the table, reading a book next to Roxas who was just poking at his food as his brother—who was now acting like his usual happy self—and the rest of their friends were talking amongst themselves. Taking small sips from a plain milk drink he purchased from a nearby vending machine, he silently pondered the words Sora had drilled to his mind this morning. _‘Unless you give your whole heart into what you want to do, nothing’s gonna happen with you, huh...’_ he thought to himself. Letting the refreshingly cold milk rush down his throat, he muttered to himself, “How _do_ I give my whole heart into something?”

A few seconds passed, and no one responded—not like he was expecting a reply, since everyone was too engrossed in what they were doing to pay him any heed. To his surprise, though, a voice to his left answered a few seconds late. “To give your whole heart into something,” the voice began, “is to devote your time and effort into something without hesitation. You’re passionate about it, and will therefore work tirelessly into whatever it is you would be spending time on,” the voice sounded so dignified, that the entire table went silent and stared at the source of the voice. “Whew, so you can talk, huh?” Terra said with a smile before he was shushed by his girlfriend. “W-what do you mean by that exactly, Zexion?” came Aqua’s gentle voice as both she and Terra heard this silent underclassman talk for the very first time.

Zexion merely stared down at his book, not bothering to spare a second glance at the other people at the table, but he did slightly glance at the arms of the person to his right, before returning his attention to his book. “I was merely answering Roxas’ question, since no one was listening hard enough to hear him,” he pointed out. “You’re one cocky kid, huh?” Hayner suddenly said, before he was silenced by Olette who offered an apologetic smile at the silent male. Ven turned his attention to his brother. “Is this about…?” Roxas sighed. Ven knew him too well. Said older twin merely smiled and gave answer of his own. “Like you told me earlier, there are some things that just need some more time to come true. Especially when it comes to love—“ Olette, who was having a drink from Pence’s usual chocolate milk suddenly choked on what Ven had said. “—you can’t just expect him—“ this time it was Hayner who was sipping on strawberry milk who nearly choked on his drink. Terra and Aqua just stopped drinking altogether. “—to suddenly return your feelings based the clock tower rumor. You have to put in more effort than just trusting in blind fate.”

Roxas listened to the words of his twin. Really, it was times like these that he was reminded that Ven was the older one. Taking Ven’s and Zexion’s words to heart, Roxas took a deep breath and tried to recollect his thoughts. _‘I have to put in more effort.’_ he thought, _‘I have to work tirelessly into attaining my goal.’_ As he thought more about steeling his resolve, his smile grew and he chuckled lightly before uttering modest words of gratitude for the words that became the foundation of his resolve.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Olette cut in, “You’re in _love_?!” she nearly shouted, red-faced. “And with a _g-guy_?!” Hayner joined in. Roxas and Pence tried calming Hayner down as Aqua and Terra did the same for Olette. “Well I’m not hiding it,” Roxas said, “but I’m not broadcasting it either, so please try to shut up, please! You’re causing a scene,” Roxas nearly pleaded as his friends were attracting unwanted attention from the people in surrounding tables. As everyone was starting to calm down and finish up with their lunches, Roxas noticed from the corner of his eye a certain head of chestnut hair with his red-headed and silver-haired best friends. Riku seemed to actually be enjoying himself at school for once as a smirk was planted on his face. Kairi was looking down on her phone as usual but was speaking as she pressed on the screen of her phone. Sora’s face seemed to burn a bright crimson at her words which did nothing but make Riku’s smirk grow wider. Roxas unconsciously pouted. Sora never made a face like that when he was with him, not even back during their childhood. But a few words from Kairi and he’s so worked up and flustered that his face goes completely red like that. He felt a pang of… something in his chest. He felt like charging over there and… what, exactly? He wasn’t sure, himself. So he decided to take what the next logical step of his thinking would bring him: Swallow that feeling down, it’ll probably go away later.

… Looks like he needed more resolve to actually put in the ‘effort’ that he needed. The bell rang, signaling lunchtime’s end. The students scurry back to their classrooms to resume classes.

* * *

Mr. Xehanort exited the classroom as the rest of the class packed their things and got ready to go home. Ven approached his brother with a bright smile on his face “Hey Rox,” Roxas put away the last of his books and turned his attention to that angelic smile of his twin. “’Sup, Ven?” Roxas said, flashing a smile of his own. “You go on ahead for today,” he began, “I’m heading over to the student council room to wait for Terra and Aqua. They said they’d help with my story.” Roxas agreed and started walking outside and towards the gate where he spotted Sora and his friends. Riku nodded at Sora, signaling to the brunette that the boy he had been waiting for had arrived.

Turning his head to look at the blonde, Sora greeted him before he gave the other two a look. Nodding, Riku and Kairi left to wait outside the gates to give the other two some privacy to talk. “So, about my question earlier…” The blonde nodded before taking a deep breath and looking the brunette straight in the eye. “Yeah, you were right,” the blonde began, “The way I was being yesterday, it probably would have saved me the heartbreak if I’d just give up on him. Now I’ve been thinking about what you’ve said, and well, I’ve decided that I shouldn’t give up after all. I have my resolve now, and I want to prove that I can give it my all, that I can succeed.” Sora blinked at that. “And what does climbing a tower and watching sunsets have anything to do with whether you succeed or not?” he snapped back, frowning. He just didn’t understand why Roxas would do all this for some guy. Riku’s frame was seen poking from beyond the gate, ready to intervene, but was held back by a smaller arm which probably belonged to Kairi. Riku turned away, and hid back behind the gate, silently waiting for the outcome of this talk.

“I never said I believed in those rumors,” Roxas pointed out. “Huh?” was Sora’s dumbfounded reply. “This is just a good luck charm of sorts,” Roxas continued, “I have other ways of showing my effort for the person I like.” There was a light growl from Sora, but it was so quiet that no one really heard it. Sora glared at Roxas for what felt like an eternity, but Roxas stood his ground. Then, Sora suddenly heaved a sigh of defeat, slumped his back a bit and covered half of his face with one hand. “Fine, Roxy,” he said, both eyes closed in exasperation. “If I can’t persuade you out of this, then I’ll accompany you,” he said. He turned his head back and called out to his two friends, “Y’hear that, guys? You can go home now.” At that, Riku and Kairi took their leave, walking in the opposite direction of where Sora and Roxas were headed.

Walking up the stairs and standing on top of the tower, Roxas faced the setting sun. Behind him, Sora rolled his eyes and glared at the beautiful sight in front of him. Roxas closed his eyes, mustered up his courage, and wished as fervently as he could.

_‘Let my feelings reach that sky!’_


	3. Plans

Early morning sunlight flitters through the white curtains, shining itself upon a certain spiky-haired blonde’s sleeping face. Blue eyes peeked out from under the thick aquamarine sheets of his bed, calmly taking in the peaceful morning surroundings. He sat up, looking to the side to see the alarm clock had been silenced for the day and now displayed 6:15 in the morning. Lazily standing up and taking his phone with him, he noticed he had a few unread messages which he decided to read later. Walking out of the room and down the stairs, he was greeted by someone who looked exactly like him in almost every way. With a bright smile on his face, the other blonde turned his head to him as he sat at the table, a bowl of steamed rice, reheated miso soup from the night before, and a plate of grilled fish in front him. He closed the notebook in his hands and set it off to the side. “Morning, Rox!” he greeted with his usual cheer.

He noticed another blonde man much older than the two twins sitting at the head of the table. The man looked up from the newspaper he was reading, before setting it down and also greeted his son with a smile on his face. At that point, a faucet running in the kitchen was stopped and a woman with the same blonde hair and blue eyes as her husband stepped out, wiping both hands on the apron she adorned. She greeted her son as well and told him to sit down as she set his breakfast in front him. He sat down beside his twin as he greeted his parents back. If you looked at it, the way the twins looked so similar combined with the fact that their breakfast consisted of the same items made it seem like you were going cross-eyed. Roxas pushed that thought back as his phone buzzed. Remembering that he had other messages to look at, he took out his phone to look at the messages. There were two messages from Ven, and one from an unknown number. Just as he was about to check the contents of the messages, his mother suddenly spoke. “Now, Roxas, no phones at the table,” she chided. Face turning slightly pink, he chuckled in slight embarrassment. “Yes, mother,” he quietly said, and started eating.

As the family ate breakfast, the youngest spoke up. “Cloud’s not here?” he asked, looking at the empty spot across from where he sat. “He left earlier,” his twin explained, “You barely missed him, sleepyhead,” he said with a bright smile and a light chuckle. “He said he got a part-time job,” their mother said, taking a small sip from her mug of coffee. “Is that why he’s always going out early in the morning?” Roxas asked, looking to his brother beside him who merely shrugged. “Where did he get the job?” the older twin asked, looking at their mother. The woman smiled at them before answering, “Remember that Zack fellow that always visits us here?” Roxas thought for a moment. Zack Fair, Sora Fair’s older brother, is very close to his and Ven’s eldest brother. It was through Zack that he and Ven met Sora in the first place. The raven-haired young man often visited their home for one reason or another. In fact, he was just here about four days ago, if Roxas remembered correctly. Roxas remembered him being a cheery lad. He’s often reminded of an energetic puppy whenever he thinks about him. “Cloud and that boy got a part-time job at a local fancy restaurant,” she explained. Their mother then got a dazed look in her face as she continued to speak, “Maybe we should eat there sometime.” Their youngest fought back a frown from appearing on his face. That… didn’t really sound like a good idea considering how their parents—their mother in particular—unintentionally do things that end up embarrassing their three children. “He’s still a university student though, right?” Ven questioned. “Wouldn’t it be hard for him to balance his time as both a student and as a worker?” 

“Not really. The hardest part of college is getting accepted,” their mother explained, “Once you get in, it’s smooth sailing from there.” Ven remained silent at that, seeming to suddenly be lost in thought. “Ah, your brother has started becoming a fine young man,” their mother said, sighing dreamily. “Speaking of growing up, how have you two been?” she continued with a warm smile. “School’s pretty much the same,” Roxas answered casually, Ven nodding in agreement. “So I take it your grades are doing well? Have you joined any clubs? Do you have someone you like?” their mother bombarded them with questions. Roxas couldn’t really blame her. Being office drones who only rarely get days off, their parents are always looking for a chance to have a heart-to-heart with their children. But somehow, she seemed to perk up even more at the last question, as if she was hoping for a very specific answer. Ven only smiled a bit awkwardly. Their mother can be a bit nosy at times. “Yes, I think our grades are doing good. I’m actually trying to get even higher in English,” he answered, pointing at the closed notebook. “Uh, we haven’t really joined any clubs… and we, uh…” he stammered, trying to answer the final question before turning to his brother with a red face, silently nudging him in an attempt to ask for help. It seemed even his father was staring at them with a… stern-looking face, seemingly waiting for the third answer. Roxas colored as well. Why the heck does he have to be the one to answer the question his parents seemed to be most interested in? “Well, uh,” Roxas stuttered, trying to find the words to answer with without embarrassing both himself and his twin, but couldn’t think of what to say. He opted instead to take a long sip from their mother’s hot miso soup as he looked down and to the side, avoiding everyone’s gaze. This made his mother gasp, her eyes brightening up as she covered her open mouth with both hands and her face tinted pink. “Don’t tell me…” she began, and Roxas pretty much knew what she was about to say. “You already have a boyfriend?”

Despite having accurately predicted what his mother would have said, Roxas still nearly spat the hot soup out as he choked on the broth. One look at his mother would make it clear that she was happy and proud for her son, but it didn’t seem like his father agreed too much. With a frown on his face, he suddenly spoke. “Absolutely not!” he said, pointing his nose upwards to emphasize his disapproval. “You are way too young for something like that,” he continued, both twins breathed a sigh and just smiled nonchalantly as the familiar scene unfolded before them. “Dear, we’ve been through this,” their mother began with a sigh of her own, looking at her husband with a look of exasperation. “The boys are young—let them experience things like love and heartbreak.” The man gave her an disapproving look as he crossed his arms across his chest.  “I can’t help it; as a father I feel compelled to protect my children’s chastity.”

The twins tuned out their parents’ bickering, finished eating, and excused themselves from the table. Ven grabbed his notebook as the two headed towards their room to get ready for school today. Heading inside the bathroom as they shared the bath once more, Ven suddenly perked up. “That reminds me,” he said, “I sent you a few messages last night, but you weren’t answering, so I thought you’d gone to sleep,” he said, enjoying the cascading warm water soothing his body. “Oh yeah, about that,” Roxas spoke, lathering shampoo on his blonde locks. “yesterday, I had gone straight home and slept early again after I got back from the clock tower with Sora,” he explained. “Sorry about not responding,” he apologized, trying to avoid his twin’s gaze, using the shampoo as an excuse to lower his head. Ven chuckled at his little brother. “You don’t need to be sorry, it was just a stupid question about my story,” he said, trying to comfort his twin who seemed genuinely upset at not being able to help his brother. Roxas perked up at his brother’s words, face twisted into a concerned frown. “That… That story is important to you, right?” The younger slowly relaxed, a bitter look on his face. “I should’ve been able to help you… Damn it!” he muttered to himself. Ven heard what his brother said, though, and suddenly moved to his side. “Don’t say that! It was really just a bunch of stupid questions. And besides, Terra and Aqua were with me, and we managed to come up with answers on our own,” he said, rubbing the back of his head with one hand while the other rubbed comforting circles on his younger brother’s shoulder. That didn’t seem to help his mood any, though. Ven sighed, before he spoke again as gently as he could, “Cheer up Rox,” he tried to plead with his brother. Heaving a sigh of his own, Roxas shook his head vigorously. “You’re right. Sorry I was such a drama queen, Ven,” he said, chuckling at himself. Ven brightened up once again at that, and both decided to drop the topic entirely.

Quickly dressing themselves and walking down the stairs, the two waved goodbye to both their parents and set off towards another day at school. As the two talked about some random quiz Mr. Jafar would be giving them today, Roxas just couldn’t seem to shake off a weird feeling… like someone was following them. He stopped walking all of a sudden as he felt chills down his spine. “What’s the matter?” Ven said, stopping a few steps after his younger brother had done so. Looking back at their path, Roxas didn’t really see anything but the paved roads and a few streetlights that were turned off. There weren’t really any other people walking with them other than the bunch of students walking behind them and making their own way to school. Shrugging, he turned to his brother, telling him it was nothing before the two continued to walk to school.

As the two entered the classroom, Ven went to his seat and greeted his classmates a good morning. He went and sat down on his brother’s seat in front of Zexion, who only looked up from his book to give the blonde a glance, before returning to whatever he was reading. As Roxas also greeted their classmates, he noted that Kairi was already sitting on her seat, Riku on her table. The sliver-haired teen gave him a bored glance before looking over Kairi’s phone, earning a small glare from the girl as she hid the contents of her screen away. Riku chuckled at that, before going back to his poker face. He didn’t stare off into the distance though, as the door suddenly opened to make way for a brightly smiling brunette. Yelling a good morning to the entire room, he strode towards where his best friends were and nonchalantly started making conversation with them.

About a minute or two after he started talking to his friends, he excused himself for a bit, before walking towards Roxas, who was standing there beside his twin. “Did you get my message last night, Roxy?” he asked with a smile so bright Roxas swore he probably needed sunglasses just to look at his general direction. Roxas took a moment before he was able to push that thought away and actually register the words that were coming from the brunette in front of him. “You weren’t replying, so I thought you’d gone to sleep,” he explained. Roxas gasped internally, realizing that he had indeed neglected to read messages from both Ven and an unknown number. “O-oh yeah,” he said, rubbing the back of his head with one hand, “I kinda fell asleep after I got home last night.” Roxas took out his phone and went through his inbox. Sora slipped behind him, peeking at the contents of his messages.

_From: Unknown Contact_

_Subject: u free this sunday?_

_hey roxy its sora_

_u have plans this sunday afternoon?_

_u still have that clock tower thing right?_

_if u want we could go see a movie or something b4 sunset_

_i can take you out to dinner too ;-)_

_if u want to that is (lol)_

The blonde’s face heated up ever so slightly. _‘Sora invited me out next Sunday… That’s tomorrow!’_ he thought, fighting a losing battle against his red face. _‘If it’s just the two of us, then doesn’t that count as a da—‘_ his thoughts were interrupted by the brunette’s words from behind him. “The rumor said you needed to go up that tower for 51 consecutive days for it to work, right? Then that means you have to go on our days off, too. So I thought it would be better if we hung out together so I can go with you when you’re gonna go up that tower,” he explained, resting the back of his head on both hands. Roxas took a moment to process his childhood friend’s words. When he didn’t respond immediately, Sora was just about to peek at his face from behind and as he tried to do so, the blonde willed his red face away to turn around and look at him. With a smile on his face, he opened his mouth to accept the offer presented to him by Sora, but was interrupted by Mr. Jafar as the teacher strode into the room with his with a deep scowl on his face. Roxas smiled and gave Sora one last glance and the brunette returned it before rolling his eyes and trying his best not to glare at his teacher. _‘Way to ruin my mood, your scaliness,’_ he thought, before begrudgingly walking back to his seat at the very back row behind Ven and beside Zexion.

Roxas silently sat at his usual spot beside his brother and Zexion at the cafeteria table. The older was too busy with his assignment to eat while the younger didn’t bring his own lunch because his brother also didn’t bring his own. Satisfied with just a small box of strawberry milk from the vending machine, he watched his brother write words on the pages of his notebook while his mind drifted back to what Sora had told him earlier that morning.  That was when that uneasy feeling suddenly returned to the blonde. He felt like he was being stared at, but looking at the other people with him in close proximity, none seemed to have their eyes on him. Terra and Aqua were listening to Ven as he seemed to be proud of himself for having written three pages of his story down. Olette and Hayner seemed to be having another lover’s quarrel about whether they should watch a horror or romantic comedy later after school. Pence seemed to be talking to Zexion about the book the boy across from him was engrossed in. Still, he felt… gross. Like someone was really staring him down. Shivers ran down his spine as he looked around the cafeteria full of students. Most of them he couldn’t be bothered to remember, but it didn’t seem like any of them had been paying any mind to the blonde’s general direction. His eyes then happened upon a table of three people he had been acquainted with the past few days.

Kairi was, as usual, talking to her friends with her gaze on her phone, typing away to some other random student in the school as Sora had told him that she had pretty much everyone who had a phone’s number in her massive contact list. Riku was also talking to Sora with a frown on his face—much different from his usual bored expression—arms folded across his chest looking at his brunette best friend with… disagreement? Sora gave his best friend a small glare. They seemed to be having a small spat with Kairi acting as a mediator of sorts. But not even Sora was looking at him right now.

… Not that he was expecting his crush to look at him just because he invited him out on what seemed to be a da—

Oh right. Sora said he wanted to hang out with him tomorrow. He hadn’t given him a response yet. _‘I thought he didn’t believe in those rumors, so why does he want to keep accompanying me there even on our days off?’_ he thought briefly losing that uncomfortable feeling of someone watching him. _‘But… it sure would be nice to have company while I’m up there,’_ he thought, at this point he was trying to make excuses to hang out with his crush. ‘I wouldn’t seem too suspicious… right?’ he chuckled lowly as he thought, attracting weird looks from the people around him.

“By the way, Roxas,” Aqua said, brushing off that weird chuckle from the blonde. “Sorry we brought Ven back so late last night,” she smiled and Roxas nodded. So they were the ones that brought Ven home last night? Maybe that’s why his overprotective father hadn’t called the police and demanded they organize a search-and-rescue.  Lunch continued on like that, Roxas just ignoring that uncomfortable feeling of being watched. Wanting some kind of distraction, he took out his phone and read through his unread messages.

_From: VenVen ^w^_

_Subject: My Assignment_

_Hey, Rox you still awake?_

_From: VenVen ^w^_

_Subject: My Assignment_

_Guess you’re not? ^w^ (lol)_

_Well, I’ll ask anyways in case you wake up (which you probably won’t)_

_What do you think would be a good title for my story?_

Roxas tried his best not to feel guilty that he wasn’t able to help his brother. Ven did say it was alright already. Plus, he seemed to be on a roll today. The blonde saw the message from the unknown contact and saved the contact info for Sora. Then Roxas noticed another message. Come to think of it, he did receive another one this morning while he was having breakfast.

_From: Ax the Pyro_

_Subject: Coming Back Home_

_Hey Roxas! Long time no see!_

_I’m taking a break from uni life and coming back home (LOL)_

_Not like I moved cities or something, but I’ll be going back to my parents’ house for a week or two._

_What say we hang out like old times? Call Xion out and we can have ice cream or something._

_Anw, see you soon kay? Hope your out of your zombie phase (LOL)_

Roxas blinked at the message. Axel was coming back from university? A wave of nostalgia hit him as he remembered the friends he’d made during his middle school years. Has it really been two years since the three of them hung out? Sure, they exchanged messages pretty much every day, and Xion was in Olette, Hayner, and Pence’s class so they often talked in school, but it still felt like it had been so long since they last had a heart to heart with just the three of them. A smile crept on his face as he started typing his reply.

_To: Ax the Pyro_

_Subject: Coming Back Home_

_What? Really? Sure! When are you coming back?_

_I’ll tell Xion, too. ^^_

_You’re treating me to the ice cream though. I’m broke._

The blonde forwarded the contents of Axel’s message to Xion and told her Axel was coming back home before setting his phone down to wait for his friend’s response. When said friend hadn’t replied immediately, he merely rolled his eyes and inwardly chuckled. Knowing him, he’s probably genuinely busy, or is getting laid right about now. He was leaning towards the latter. Roxas shook it off and figured he would reply eventually. Looking at his current companions, he turned to his brother who had a sour look on his face. Repeatedly tapping the tip of his pen on the notebook he was writing on, he rested his chin on his free hand, staring down the paper as if words would magically start appearing on it if he did so. Not wanting to disturb his concentration, Roxas turned to his other side to see Zexion and Pence were still talking about the book. While Pence was obviously engrossed in talking about the mythical creatures from the book, Zexion was more nonchalant, not even looking up at the boy he was talking to, keeping his gaze focused on the words on the pages of that book. Roxas couldn’t find an opportunity to jump into the conversation about the physical, emotional, and moral implications of a vampire falling in love with a human and vice versa, and so opted to stay silent instead. Thinking over Sora’s offer once again, he figured he should accept. Opening his phone once again, he started to type his response to Sora’s message, mostly because he couldn’t trust his voice to be able to form cohesive sentences if he accepted Sora’s offer in person.

Roxas set his phone aside once more after typing a simple message of acceptance, briefly glancing at the direction where Sora and his friends were sitting. It would seem like Sora and Riku had gotten over their little spat If the brunette’s laughing face indicated any. Sora briefly stopped talking and took his phone out of his pocket, looking at whatever his phone had received. His eyes widened just a little bit at who it was from, and wasted no time opening and reading the contents. Roxas looked away, too nervous to see the rest of the brunette’s reaction. He instead tried to direct his attention towards his twin beside him, who seemed to have gotten some of his inspiration back and had once again started to slowly progress writing on his notebook. This continued on for the rest of lunch period, Roxas too weary to look at anyone besides his brother he trusts so much.

Mr. Xehanort dragged on about the, ‘art of writing letters,’ or something along those lines. Roxas wasn’t really paying much attention to what the bald headed teacher was saying. Staring straight in front and writing random scribbles on his notebook to pretend like he was listening as attentively as possible, he just seemed so used to how boring his classes were. Then all of a sudden, he felt that same, uncomfortable feeling. This was weird. This was definitely weird. He whipped his head back, and saw Zexion reading that book of his behind an open English textbook, and Sora was staring at the window. He looked… out of it, somehow. Like he was sleepy and tired. Sora’s eyes slowly turned to him, though, and a raspy clearing of a throat could be heard from the front of the room.

The blonde was surprised as his attention was called back in front where Mr. Xehanort was staring at him disapprovingly. “Mr. Roxas Strife,” he began, “I would very much appreciate it if I could at least keep your gaze towards me during my class, even if you were so obviously faking attention and were only drawing on your notebook.” Roxas tried his best not to flinch. Just how did he find out? “Sir,” a voice behind the blonde suddenly spoke, everyone in the class directed their gaze toward the brunette behind Roxas. “I think he was genuinely taking notes and listening to your lecture,” he said with his signature smile. The old man in front merely raised an eyebrow at this before he smirked and directed his attention to the blonde in question.

“Really, now? Well, then, Mr. Roxas Strife, since you were so attentively listening and were actively taking notes,” he said mockingly, “would you happen to be able to tell me the proper use of a semi-colon?” Roxas couldn’t answer—he wasn’t listening! And he certainly wasn’t seriously taking notes, not in this class, and most certainly not in any other. He wanted nothing more in this moment than to turn around and strangle the brunette behind him, crushes be damned. Instead, he desperately tried to keep his cool as the entire class waited in silence for the blonde to answer. The silence was broken not too long after, when all of a sudden, a loud noise erupted from the other side of the room, directing the attention of the whole class—including Mr. Xehanort’s—towards it. “Whoops, my bad, sir,” Riku said, picking up his English textbook that had somehow fallen down from the desk.

As inconspicuously as he could, Sora swapped his own open notebook with Roxas’ and placed it on top of the blonde’s desk all while his tall best friend insincerely apologized to the teacher. Even Kairi purposely turned on her ringtone once, having the flood of messages sound the tone at full blast, earning both teens a sharp glare from the old man. Roxas didn’t have the time to complain about the brunette touching his stuff, as Mr. Xehanort’s glare was directed back at the blonde was now clutching and quickly skimming through the notebook the brunette forced on him, seeing that the pages had _very detailed_ notes on all of their classes—even Mr. Jafar’s, and that was supposed to be the class the brunette hated the most.

“Mr. Roxas Strife. Please answer the question,” the bald man spoke, a vein seemed to be popping on his forehead. Going back to where Sora had opened his notebook, and immediately read out loud what was written in the notebook. “Uh, a semi-colon is used to connect two independent clauses together if the second clause begins with a conjunctive adverb, and can also be used to separate phrases or clauses in a series if commas appear within any of the phrases or clauses,” he answered, and the entire class went silent. The blonde felt like crawling into a hole somewhere and dying as the old man’s eyes narrowed once more into slits, looking at the blonde intently. The old man sighed in exasperation. “So you were listening and taking down notes, after all,” he grumbled, turning back towards the blackboard in front, arms twisted backwards to aid his aching back. Roxas heaved a sigh of his own in relief as he relaxed back onto his seat. He couldn’t believe he actually survived that, though having Sora’s notes certainly did help him through it. Thinking about it now, he was a bit confused as to how Sora even got those notes—he seemed so out of it a while ago, it didn’t really seem like the brunette had been paying attention at all to any of his classes. Then again, he always seemed to pass his exams… He pushed this thought back, as a small piece of crumpled paper lightly collided with the back of his head. Roxas opened the piece of paper, seeing the words, ‘You owe me one, Roxy,’ written on it with a drawing of a small heart beneath the words.

The blonde’s face flushed, not really being able to comprehend the words on the note, and instead just saw the heart on the paper. Brushing it off as a light-hearted joke from his childhood friend and trying his best not to misinterpret what the note really meant, he willed the heat on his face away and turned back towards the lecture, not wanting to be called out again by their bald headed teacher.

Class continued like that until the bell finally sounded, signaling the end of the school day. Some students loitered around the school still, cleaning up hallways and classrooms. Most have started with club activities, while those who weren’t in a club were starting to head home. Ven had told his younger twin that he’d head home first. Watching the students around the school busying themselves with their club activities, Roxas was reminded that his twin told him he wanted to join a club at the start of the school year, but he couldn’t decide which one he wanted to join, so he decided not to join any instead, although he was constantly being berated by Terra and Aqua to join at least one to make his school life a bit more fulfilling. Roxas actually had a club he wanted to join, one dedicated to the local sport of Struggle. He couldn’t bring himself to join, however, because a certain brunette—who he felt so shy and insecure around until now—was also a member of the club. But now that he had gotten back the nerve to talk and spend time with him once again after that incident that made them start to grow apart in middle school, he wondered if it would be a good idea to join…

Today, the Struggle Club had a meeting with all of its members, so Sora asked Roxas to wait for him near the school gate till they finished. Kairi and Riku didn’t have clubs either and so told Sora that they would be heading home first. Still, he found it weird that Sora was really insistent on accompanying him on top of the tower for a rumor he didn’t even believe in, even going so far as to invite him out on a Sunday and asking him to wait while he attended his club. The blonde sighed. He just couldn’t tell what was going on through that brunette’s head. Looking up at the afternoon sky transition from a pastel blue to hues of orange and red, he heard footsteps approach him from behind. “Sorry for the wait, Roxy,” came the brunette’s voice, that wide toothy grin on his face. And making small talk about the small things that have happened through their day, the two started to head towards the clock tower.

The sun had set, and the two were starting to descend from the tower when the brunette spoke up, making the blonde with him glance at his direction. “So about tomorrow,” he began, seemingly nervous blue eyes moving around as if trying to avoid contact with the similar ones of his companion. “Should I… pick you up from your house?” he proposed, sounding just a tad unsure of what he had just said. Roxas blinked at that. What was that supposed to mean? “W-well! If you don’t want to, we could just meet up at the sandlot… or something,”

Roxas fought the blush from spreading on his face. “Oh, uh, I don’t mind if you pick me up tomorrow, but why did you ask?” Sora looked back at his childhood friend with a sheepish grin. “No particular reason,” he said as he raised his arms to rest the back of his head on his hands. Roxas raised an eyebrow at that. Really, he was just too difficult to read sometimes. But that’s one of the many things he finds endearing about the boy. “Do you still remember where my house is? I mean, you live at the other side of town and all,” the blonde said, looking at anything _but_ the boy walking beside him. “Yeah, I still remember,” the brunette answered as the two reached the point where they would separate paths for the day. “So… see you tomorrow, ‘kay, Roxy?” the brunette said with a smile. Roxas returned the gesture and also waved goodbye, walking down his path home.

When he was sure the blonde was out of earshot, Sora couldn’t hold it anymore. Pumping a fist in the air, he shouted a “Yes!” out, startling some passers-by and getting weird looks from them. “Take that, Vanitas!” he said to himself, hands on his hips and chest heaved out in a proud manner. As he walked towards the trains station to take him to his home in nearby Destiny Islands, an arm extended from an alleyway, dragging the brunette into the dark and narrow space. The brunette was shocked as he was pushed against a wall. Getting ready to kick whoever was the prick that was trying to ruin his elated mood right now straight in the groin, he stopped when he heard that familiar laugh. “Hey there, ‘cuz,” the voice, similar to his but just a bit deeper greeted. Speak of the devil. “Get off me, Vanitas,” the brunette said, annoyed at getting slammed and pinned into a wall by his cousin.

The raven haired young man ignored his cousin, instead leaning in even closer, their faces centimeters apart and their noses almost touching. “More importantly, Sora,” he said, devilish smile widening, those piercing golden eyes barely covered by his black sunglasses. “What am I supposed to take?” he said lowly, a small growl emitting from his throat. “You know I prefer to ‘give’ than to ‘take’, right?” he said with a smirk on his face as he wiggled an eyebrow suggestively at his cousin. A fist collided with the raven’s stomach all of a sudden, enough to make him stumble back, but not enough to actually hurt him. “Keep it in your pants, Vanitas,” Sora grumbled, and his cousin only rolled his eyes at him. “Whatever,” he other shrugged as he and his cousin went out of the alleyway to continue on the rest of the way home.

“…. Playing hooky again?” the brunette asked his cousin as they boarded the train. Vanitas gave a smug smirk at that and told his cousin that he was right. “Mr. Xigbar’s probably pissed at you, y’know,” Sora said, with a smirk of his own. His raven haired cousin only shrugged him off and the two fall into a comfortable silence as they made their way home.

Upon arriving, the huge gates to their home were opened by a tall and tan-skinned man with long, white hair. “It is about time you come home, Sora,” a deep voice said, and a frown etched itself on on his face. “… I’m home, Uncle Xemnas,” the young brunette said, looking away from the man whose eyes were glaring holes into him. “And, you, Vanitas,” the man directed his gaze towards the other, “are supposed to be at that event, aren’t you? What are you doing here then, young man?” he questioned, the scowl on his face only growing darker as the three walk into the Fair Estate. As the older man continued ranting at the two about Sora’s curfew, Vanitas’ tendency to skip out on formal events, and just being an overall stick in the mud, they walked into the family room where Sora’s big brother, Zack, was chatting with Mr. Xigbar, Vanitas’ talent manager. Xemnas grabbed the raven haired teenager by the arm before dragging him towards the man who had a very dangerous aura despite the fact that he was acting cheerful at the moment. As Vanitas was interrogated by both Xemnas and Xigbar, Sora went to his brother who welcomed home with a happy grin on his face. The brunette told his older brother of his plans tomorrow with Roxas, who became one of Zack’s younger brother figures along with Ventus and Vanitas. Sora grinned at his brother’s approval of what he had in store for the blonde tomorrow. Giving a good night to his brother and then shouting the same greeting to the other men in the room, Sora made his way to the third floor of the large manor where his room was located.

Opening the door and immediately running and flinging himself towards the sky blue covers of his twin-sized bed, his mind wandered around to Roxas and their date tomorrow, which brought his mind to that rumor… _‘He seemed so unsure of it so I tried to discourage him from doing something so half-heartedly… But yesterday he was so serious, like his mind was made up.’_ He rolled over to his back, spreading out his arms and legs and staring at the pristine white ceiling of his room. _‘Who the heck is he doing all this for, anyway?’_ he thought, a frown forming on his face. _‘He has to be a student at our school, right? Roxy won’t be super stoked about a rumor only relevant in our school otherwise.’_ He sat up before jumping off his bed and going inside his walk-in closet to change into his sleepwear.

_‘Once I find out who that prick is…’_ he thought as he finished putting on his pajamas. _‘What am I gonna do?’_ Deciding to make better use of his time, he started putting together the clothes he wanted to wear for his date tomorrow. _‘I could convince Riku to beat him up at the back of the school,’_ he thought as he picked out a simple black, short-sleeved V-neck shirt with a symbol of a heart printed in front and a black overjacket. _‘Or maybe get Kai to spread rumors about him and ruin his rep,’_ he thought, picking out a pair of baggy black shorts. Satisfied with the clothes he picked out, he hung them outside his walk-in closet, briefly wondering if his cousin’s love for black clothes have rubbed off on him or something.

Shrugging, he walked towards his bedside table, which was empty save for a simple blue lamp, a digital alarm clock, and a framed photo of him and his childhood friends, Roxas and Ventus. His mind continued to drift about as he set his alarm earlier than usual. He didn’t want to waste time, seeing as Roxas’ home was considerably far away from his own. He laid down on his soft bed, and was about to fall asleep when he heard his phone suddenly ring from inside his bag. Grudgingly standing up to look at who it was that messaged him (not that he saves the contact information of people he didn’t consider his friends), he opened his bag and took out his phone.

_From: kai_

_Subject: Plans for tomorrow_

_Hey sora_

_Ur going with roxas tomorrow rite?_

_Riku and i wanna go with u too._

_U dont mind, right??_

_U owe me one after all. :-)_

Sora sighed at that. So much for being alone together tomorrow. Trudging back towards his bed and lying back down, his mind wandered one more time. _‘If I make Riku beat that guy up, or ask Kai to ruin his rep, what would Roxy do? I mean, he likes the guy, right? Wonder if he’ll hate me even more, then… I can’t blame him. Not after what I put him through that time…’_ As his mind wandered back to his middle school years, he slowly drifted to sleep, vowing to do whatever he can to make it up for Roxas, no matter what. Clutching at the crown shaped pendant hanging from his neck, he thought about his childhood friend. _‘I don’t care if we end up just being childhood friends… as long as he doesn’t hate me.’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any and all grammatical, spelling, etc. errors in the 'message portions' are intentional. lol XD  
> Why is Ven's name on Roxas' phone "VenVen ^w^"? Well, Ven was the one who registered his own contact info on Roxas' phone.(also that name reminds me of Ventus' story in the Castle of Dreams and I find the name cute haha) Axel's is "Ax the Pyro" cause that's how Roxas tried to get back at him for naming him "Rox the Zombie" on his own phone. lol. Also, I based things in this story on the things I found out about Japanese Schools through the good ol' internet, mixed with my own experiences. But I was really shocked to know that college in Japan is such a breeze. it's waaay different from how we do things here in the Philippines. Then again, High School is much more lax here than in Japan, I think.
> 
> Ah, school is starting for me soon orz  
> Not that I won't be able to upload anymore.  
> It's just the first few weeks, after all.  
> Besides, I already tend to be a really slow updater already, so... yeah. Sorry bout that ^^;
> 
> You know the feeling that you feel like what you're putting out there is way too crappy?  
> That's how I've been feeling the past few days.  
> So I neglected writing for a bit, but hey, I'm over that feeling... for now. XD  
> I get depressed easily and end up neglecting not just writing, but my studies, my health, and even my friends as well.  
> I end up curling up in a corner and going on the internet the whole day and just... forgetting about the world for hours on end. But I guess that's the norm for me now. It's hard for me to crawl out of that hole of self-loathing, but when I do, i really try my best to deliver to the expectations of people around me.
> 
> Agh--enough of the pity party, me! hahahaha. Anyways, I'll try to have the next chapter up as soon as I could. Honest! ^^;

**Author's Note:**

> I tried my best. I'm probably gonna be updating veeery slowly. Like, once or twice a week, maybe. 'Cause I'm lazy like that. It's not easy coming up with things to tack on to make this a transformative work. But I do have plans for this story. I know what I want to do with it and I know how I will end it. I just want to come up with more meat to put in with the bones of the story, if you know what I mean. :3 Anyways, thanks a lot for reading this! I do appreciate it. :)


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